William Bateson and Reginald Punnett were the
founders of experimental genetics in Britain and the main
advocates of Gregor Mendel's models of inheritance. Their
experiments are recorded in a series of laboratory
notebooks acquired by Cambridge University Library from
the Department of Genetics, a selection of which is now
presented here.

Cambridge University Library holds the entire archive
of the Board of Longitude, the state organization
established in the eighteenth century to evaluate methods
for finding ships’ position and to encourage a host of
projects in instrument design, clock-making, mapping and
voyaging.

The University Archives aims to provide a full and
richly varied picture over time of the University's
organisation and governance, its key functions and
activities, major developments and achievements. From
modest beginnings, housed alongside other valuables in
the University chest, the archives now occupy ca 3000
metres of shelving at the University Library.

This archive contains historic photographs of people,
equipment and events, mostly from the early history of
the Cavendish Laboratory up to about 1970. There are many
classic photographs of equipment used in the pioneering
discoveries made by members of the Laboratory. The
preservation of the most important of these in an
accessible digital Photographic Archive has been a
priority as we begin a new phase in the history of the
Laboratory with the rebuilding of the whole Laboratory
over the next three to four years.

The Chinese collections comprise about half a million
individual titles. The items displayed here show the
temporal range, diversity of media and variety of
subject-matter contained within the collections, from the
oracle bones (the oldest documents in the Library), to
unique manuscripts and printed books, historical
documents and epigraphical rubbings.

Christ's College was first established as God's House
in 1437 by William Byngham, a London parish priest.
Shortly after receiving its Royal Licence from Henry VI
in 1446, God's House was forced to move from its original
site to make way for the King's new project (what was to
become King's College). God's House moved to its present
site in 1448.

The Royal Commonwealth Society Collection at Cambridge
University Library has digitized the archives of two
Second World War civilian internment camps established by
the Japanese at Singapore, generously funded by a
Research Resources Award from the Wellcome Trust. The
records are of immense interest to the families of
internees and a wide range of researchers, since few
survivors ever spoke of their traumatic ordeal.

Amongst the Library’s extraordinary collection of
around eight million printed books, manuscripts and
digital holdings are some unusual and unexpected items.
From an ostrich feather and ectoplasm to an old boot, a
boomerang and beard hair sent to Charles Darwin, the
curious objects in the second public exhibition of our
600th anniversary year come from all corners of the world
and span every era of human history from the Stone Age to
the Space Age.

The Charles Darwin Papers in the Manuscripts
Department of Cambridge University Library hold nearly
the entire extant collection of Darwin’s working
scientific papers. Paramount among these documents are
Charles Darwin’s Evolution Manuscripts, which are
being published online at the Cambridge Digital Library
and simultaneously at the Darwin
Manuscripts Project in collaboration with the Darwin Correspondence
Project.

These letters are a connecting thread that spans forty
years of Darwin's mature working life from 1843 until his
death in 1882. They bring into sharp focus every aspect
of Darwin's scientific work throughout that period, and
illuminate the mutual friendships he and Hooker shared
with other scientists, but they also provide a window of
unparalleled intimacy into the personal lives of the two
men.

Downing College was founded by Sir George Downing, 3rd
Baronet, with wealth inherited from his grandfather, the
1st Baronet, a statesman who served both Cromwell and
Charles II and built No. 10 Downing Street. Provision for
a new Cambridge College was made in the founder’s will in
1717 but, following his death in 1749 and the death of
his only surviving heir in 1764, a protracted legal
battle with his widow and her heirs meant that the new
College was not founded until 1800, the first new
Cambridge college in over 200 years.

The Library holds regular exhibitions, usually
organised around a particular theme or collection.
Depending on the chosen theme, the exhibition cases might
contain anything from irreplaceable works of world
importance to newspapers or printed ephemera. They
demonstrate the breadth of the Library's holdings and
often yield surprises.

The diaries and photographs digitised here give a
vivid impression of the life of an army surgeon during
the First World War, first on the Western Front,
including the Second Battle of Ypres and the Battle of
Loos, and later in Salonika.

The astrologer-physicians Simon Forman and Richard
Napier recorded 80,000 consultations between 1596 and
1634. This is one of the largest surviving sets of
medical records in history. Forman’s and Napier’s
casebooks are presented here as part of a collaboration
between the Cambridge University Digital Library and the
Casebooks
Project.

The Library's Islamic Manuscripts collection began in
the 1630s and now numbers over 5,000 works, which shed
light on many aspects of the Islamic world, its beliefs
and learning. Our initial selection includes several
early Qur'anic fragments on parchment.

Items from Cambridge University Library's important
collection of early Japanese books and manuscripts,
representing a wide range of the various aspects of early
Japanese learning and excellent samples of Japan’s early
printing culture.

Dr. Joseph Needham FRS, FBA (1900-1995) was one of the
most outstanding intellectuals of the 20th century. As
Reader in Biochemistry at the University of Cambridge,
and Fellow (later Master) of Gonville and Caius College,
in the inter-war years he was one of a group of
left-wing, socially active scientists that included such
figures as J.D. Bernal, C.H. Waddington and J.B.S.
Haldane, among others. His interests and publications
ranged far and wide beyond biochemistry - from the
history of science and the relationships between science
and religion, to steam trains and morris dancing.

From its foundation by Henry VI in 1441 to the present
day, King's College has preserved records of its internal
administration, the construction of its buildings, and
the lives of its members. The archives offer researchers
outstanding sources for the study of architecture,
religious upheaval, patterns of consumption, development
of the curriculum, social and political history. In
addition, the archives include the administrative records
of estates the College was given by Henry VI.

Garth Fowden is a historian of first millennium CE
Eurasia, who in pursuit of his interests has travelled
extensively in the Mediterranean, the Middle East and
North Africa. For the greater part of his career he has
lived and worked in Greece. This site presents a
digitized version of the photographic archive he
developed while conducting research on the landscapes and
monuments of these regions.

In August 2013 Cambridge University Library and the
Bodleian Libraries, Oxford, jointly purchased 1700
medieval Jewish manuscripts collected by the twin sisters
Agnes Smith Lewis (1843–1 926) and Margaret Dunlop Gibson
(1843–1920). The manuscripts were acquired by the two
Scotswomen as they passed through Egypt on their
adventurous visits to the monastery at St Catherine’s,
Sinai, to inspect its ancient library towards the end of
the nineteenth century.

Across six themes, this exhibition highlights key
moments in the evolution of human thought. They show how
the collections here in Cambridge represent and underpin
some of the most significant developments in human
history. The books, manuscripts, archives and digital
objects we house do not stand in isolation. Thousands of
lines of thought run through them, back into the past and
forward into tomorrow’s teaching, learning, research and
innovation.

The Map Department of Cambridge University Library
holds 1.3 million maps and over 40,000 atlases and
books on cartography, covering the whole world in a range
of scales, from detailed topographic maps showing the lie
of the land and the man-made features resting upon it, to
world maps showing ocean currents or time zones.

The Marshall Library plays a central role in
supporting the teaching, learning and research of the
Faculty of Economics and sustaining the Faculty's
international reputation as a centre of excellence in the
subject. It currently has a collection of over 100,000
volumes containing 60,000 books and includes archives and
special collections.

Papyrus was the main writing material of the Greek,
Roman, Byzantine and Early Islamic societies in Egypt for
4,000 years before paper took its place. The bulk of
historical, linguistic, social and economic evidence of
the early Islamic Era can be found on papyrus originally
produced in Egypt. The Michaelides fragments comprise the
largest private collection of Arabic papyri to be found
in any institution worldwide.

This complex manuscript is a palimpsest containing
portions of two ancient Qurʼāns, probably written in the
7th or 8th century CE. Alba Fedeli, a scholar of Qurʼānic
manuscripts, has engaged in an extensive research
project, uncovering the historic context of the
Mingana-Lewis Palimpsest and applying new methods in an
attempt to create a possible reconstruction of the
Qurʼānic under-writing.

The Montaigne Library of Gilbert de Botton is a
remarkable collection of books connected with the life
and times of Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592), including
ten volumes from Montaigne’s personal library. It was
assembled by the Montaigne scholar and financier Gilbert
de Botton (1935–2000) and came to Cambridge University
Library in 2008.

The music collections at Cambridge University Library
play an important role in the preservation of musical
heritage, both on a national and international level.
From printed and manuscript music scores and texts on
music to ephemera and concert programmes, archival
materials documenting the life and work of composers,
music scholars and performers, a huge variety and breadth
of material has been collected over several centuries. We
launch with a selection of important early lute music,
digitised and described in collaboration with the Lute
Society.

Cambridge University Library holds the largest and
most important collection of the scientific works of
Isaac Newton (1642-1727). We present here an initial
selection of Newton's manuscripts, concentrating on his
mathematical work in the 1660s.

Born in Bungay, Suffolk, in 1939, Oliver Rackham was
educated at Norwich School, matriculated at Corpus
Christi College in 1957, and was elected Fellow of the
college in 1964. Although he began by studying physics,
as a graduate student he turned his attention to botany,
particularly the physiology of plant growth and
transpiration.

Pembroke College, founded in 1347 by Marie de St Pol,
Countess of Pembroke, is the third oldest of the
Cambridge colleges, it was the first to have its own
chapel (Christopher Wren’s first building). In order to
make the College’s collections more accessible, we are
hoping to make some of our unique items available
digitally.

Peterhouse (founded 1284) is the oldest of the
Cambridge Colleges, and holds a significant collection of
medieval manuscripts. As part of the process of
recataloguing and preserving the College's collections,
it has been decided to present highlights from the
Peterhouse manuscripts in digital form.

‘The Quenes collage of sainte Margarete and saint
Bernard’ was founded in 1448 by Queen Margaret of Anjou,
wife of King Henry VI. This followed extensive
preparatory work undertaken by Andrew Dockett, Rector of
St Botolph’s, who having previously obtained foundation
charters for the college from Henry VI in 1446 and 1447
(that were subsequently rescinded), became the college’s
first president when it was finally established in
1448.

The Royal Asiatic Society was founded in 1823 by the
eminent Sanskrit scholar Henry Thomas Colebrooke. It
received its royal charter the following year from George
IV for the ‘ investigation of subjects connected with and
for the encouragement of Science, Literature and the Arts
in relation to Asia’. Throughout its history many
distinguished scholars have contributed to its work and
today it provides an active forum for those who are
interested in Asia.

The Royal Commonwealth Society (RCS) Library
collections are a treasure-trove of information,
pictorial and written, print and manuscript, focussing on
the Commonwealth and Britain's former colonial
territories. This initial selection includes some of the
spectacular art work and photograph collections in the
RCS Library.

In September 1715, King George I made a gift to
Cambridge University Library that would change it for
ever - over 30,000 books and manuscripts,
trebling the size of the
Library overnight. Amongst the remarkable
items in this collection are the Moore Bede, the
Book of
Deer and the Life of Edward the
Confessor.

A full catalogue of our Sanskrit manuscript
collection, comprising more than 1,600 works in Sanskrit,
Prakrit, Pali, Tamil and other ancient and medieval South
Asian languages, produced over a time-span of more than
1,000 years.

The notebooks kept by the soldier-poet Siegfried
Sassoon (1886–1 967) during his service in the British
Army in the First World War are among the most remarkable
documents of their kind, and provide an extraordinary
insight into his participation in one of the defining
conflicts of European history.

A digital archive of manuscript miscellanies and
commonplace books from the period c. 1450-1720, drawn
from the collections of ten partner institutions: a
number of college libraries in Cambridge (Emmanuel,
King's, Queens, St John's, Trinity) as well as the
Cambridge University Library, the Brotherton Library in
Leeds, and other archives, such as that of Holkham Hall
in Norfolk.

Sidney Sussex College was founded on 14 February 1596,
as a ‘good and godlie monument for the mainteynance of
good learninge’ in accordance with the will of Lady
Frances Sidney, Countess of Sussex (d. 1589). Although
the youngest of the old Cambridge colleges, Sidney has
acquired 121 manuscripts, ranging in date from a late
10th-century Ordinale to a 19th-century Torah
scroll.

St Catharine’s was founded in 1473, as the ninth
College of the University of Cambridge. Our founder was
Robert Woodlark, one of the original Fellows of King’s
College, where he was Provost from 1452 to 1479. Today,
our special collections comprise about 10,000 printed
books, and over 65 manuscripts

Built in large part thanks to the generosity of John
Williams, Bishop of Lincoln, the Upper Library now holds
some 30,000 early printed books, while the Special
Collections as a whole include further printed
collections associated with Members of the College, 270
medieval manuscripts, several hundred post-medieval
manuscripts, plus extensive collections of personal
papers, artefacts, photographs, maps, and artworks.

Cambridge is home to many of the most significant
manuscripts of Alfred Lord Tennyson (1809–92). The bulk
of these materials are held at Trinity College, where
Tennyson was a student between 1827 and 1831. In 1897 the
College was presented with the earliest extant full-scale
draft of In Memoriam, Tennyson’s most famous
poem.

In this special collection we draw together books,
manuscripts and other items of particular significance.
Many of them have been displayed in Library exhibitions
in the past – now they can be accessed at any time, from
anywhere in the world, and browsed cover to cover.

The Battle of Waterloo was the climactic engagement of
a campaign that pitted an invading French army under
Napoleon Bonaparte against a combined force of Allied
troops. The French were routed, and the warfare that had
plagued Europe for more than two decades was definitively
ended: there were to be no hostilities on such a scale on
the continent until the outbreak of the First World War
in 1914. Through its impact on the politics and
power-relationships of a Europe approaching the height of
its worldwide influence, the outcome of Waterloo remains
significant to this day.